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This blog is about gaming, but D&D is top on my list, from D&D 5e, Pathfinder to good old AD&D 1e (where my roots come from!). I'm an Evil DM, I have been for many years, to the point folks enjoy my games and style but fear things in game. Paranoia is great and fuels a lot of awesome roleplaying situations with characters in game. Have a question? Feel free to contact me for advice about 1e, 5e or Pathfinder - ASKTHEDM(@)THEEVILDM(.)COM

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So I stumbled across this today when looking for some artwork for my game. A Jim Holloway Art on a t-shirt. To be precise, the artwork from B4: The Lost City! The site is done by the artist himself, so if you wanted to know if your shirt was legal. The answer is yes! OK some new gamers might not know who Jim is, so quickly, I did a google search for people out there, and a wiki link came up.

Jim Holloway has continued to produce interior illustrations for many Dungeons & Dragons books and Dragon magazine since 1981, as well as cover art for The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror and Dungeonland (1983), and Mad Monkey vs. the Dragon Claw (1988), the Spelljammer: AD&D Adventures in Space boxed set (1989), Ronin Challenge (1990). He has also produced artwork for many other games including Chill (Pacesetter Ltd), Paranoia (West End Games), Tales from the Floating Vagabond (Avalon Hill), Sovereign Stone (Sovereign Press), and others.

Bonus Points are a reward given by the GM to Players for in-game and out-of-game achievements.

Bonus Points are rewarded at the discretion of the GM, and should be given out very rarely.

Normally a GM would give these points out to players that go above and beyond the call. Such as excellent roleplaying, figuring out a tough riddle or doing something that so un usual, you have to just give it.

So you are saying, "Ok. So how many can I get? and what can I do with them?"

Easy, you can get upto a max of 3 points at anyone time, the points expire after the next gaming session.

After each session is over, everyone secretly votes for the best player of the night (can't vote for your self).

The GM will reward the other 2 points as he sees fit.

There is only a total of 3 points given out in one session.

What can a player use them for?

A natural 20 hit (can do this once per game)

Reroll any dice/die roll once, but have to keep the new results. (can do this 3 times)

A simple answer has been found, and Lego is your answer. Yes, Lego! Lego has come up with this really cool mini rpg game called Heroica. Its a simple lego build board, with various challenges on the board, such as monsters, rocks, and gold.

The game has one 6 sided die, that shows combat, movement and other results.

As you can see, there a couple of dots to show movement and a sword/skull for combat.

The game is played in turns, as each person moves, and if their path is blocked by a monster, they roll the die to see if defeat it or lose health points. The cool thing about this whole process, is you can find gold along the way or for defeating a monster. With this gold you can buy various things, such as weapons. Each character has a special ability if the special face is rolled on the die.

So you are saying," Great, so my kid will learn to love mini games, not AD&D or classic". But you are wrong, you can use this and tweak it a bit. First play the game a few times as…

So check this out, this is normally what happens in a game session, between players and a DM. Doesn't happen all the time, but it happens to DM's that often like to creature their own magic, instead of following a module.

DM: The passageway continues another 60' south. Following it, you come to a T-junction, the perpendicular corridor running east-west.

Player 1: Was that 60' from where we're standing, or 60' from the door?DM: Which door?Player 1: The door on the east wall.DM: You mean west wall? There was a door to the north and one to the west.Player 1: That one (indicates door on map with eraser tip)DM: Yeah. 60' from that one. Player 1: OK. I got it. Which way, guys?Player 2: Let's go west and see if this backtracks.DM: No objections? The party goes west, travelling another 40' before approaching a large, square 40' chamber. (Blah, blah, blah room description)Player 1: Wait, does the other corridor intersect this…

Well last night, I was sitting around, thinking of ways to design a cool game for my group. A thought came across my mind, after running my mini-adventure at gencon. A little bit of Sci-fi added to the game could be awesome, as Imade up an item on the fly for the game to make it a bit more interesting.

It was called the "Power Gauntlet" and what it did was shoot a "laser" streak that would randomly hit an enemy of the wearer of the gauntlet.

The Gauntlet had 5 gem like stones on it, which would slowly fade in color as the player used it. The player did not notice it really, nor did I spend much time explaining it. He was happen with the fact it randomly just destroyed the orcs.

Power Gauntlet

Alien Artifact

5 Gems Power (20 uses - Alien recharge only)

To Hit: Roll standard missile attack + 3

Damage: Varies

Special: See Description

Appears to be a large humanoid gauntlet with gems on it. Once the user places it on, it can not be taken off until it runs out of charges. Each …

So I've finally found a source to print out some quality GM screens. I have a friend working on a kick ass art for the panels, while I am designing the inside. Once I get it in, I will take some pictures and see who wants to buy one.

Many have wondered in forums and even asked me, How can I get my players more involved in some roleplaying, instead of just having that generic dungeon crawl with Bob the fighter.

Method 1: Gold!

Players love gold. Plain and simple. Its the reason most players use for their characters to be questing. So why not when your players come into town, have a carnival being held. Throw in a few carnie games where the players still can roll some dice. Hold a simple non lethal damage boxing match with an animal. Throw in a gypsy fortune teller. Perfect chance to roleplay. If the players don't bite on the fortune teller, make it look interesting. Have people coming out of the tent cheering and celebrating as if they won something. Do it over and over as players look around. Sooner or later, the curiosity bug will hit them. When it does, its your chance to shine as a roleplaying DM. Have a wacky lady, in front of a table with a deck of cards, a crystal ball, strange incense all around the room …

There was an interesting quesiton brought up in the osrgaming.org forums about Cleric spells. The question asked was

Do they (Clerics) automatically know all spells for the level they are, but only can cast what the memorize? Or are they like magic users and have to copy from scrolls or the like?

Interesting question. Now, we all know from playing any edition of D&D that Magic Users, study a book, or research a spell. Then they memorize the spell for the day to use it, and once they do, it is cleared of their mind and the process starts over again.

But what about Clerics?

They pray for their spells is the answer everyone gives.

But how do they actually know what spell is what? How do they know what to say and when to say it?

I have always thought that a Cleric, would pray for that spell, and it would just "pop" into their mind.

That was good enough reason for me, up until I saw the post. Then it had me thinking, how does it really get there, and how does a Cleric know …

So people have asked, "What's the best thing to run at a convention, that will fit into a 2 to 4 hour time slot, and not run over the time slot or leave the players with no end."

Simple Answer. One Page Dungeons. There is various contests on the web, called one page dungeon design contests, and hundreds of people send in dungeons crawls. Some with good stories, some with no stories. The best thing about these, is its on ONE page and you as the DM can just pick them up, print them out, read it in 10 minutes, and then start jotting down notes on the back.

Now you are saying, "well, how do you know it will work?" I used this method in many cons so far, including Gencon.

As a DM, you have to control the flow of the adventure. IF you see your players racing through the adventure, throw in some roleplay encounters, or some random rolled combat.

OK so you don't like on the fly. Then on the back of your sheet, add some notes for things you can use incase of this…

Audio Entertainment!

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What's this Blog about?Nothing is as it seems in my games, so feel free to show up in my game with your books and TRY to rules lawyer me, it will only result in another character soul taken. Remember you are the Dungeon Master and ANYTHING can be done as long as you can dream it up because you rule the game, not the other way around! IF the book doesn't list it, doesn't mean its not possible, think folks, you are the DM, do as you please, its your world! Over 1000+ character souls taken as of this date!